Nakari Nacreesian
Nakari Danita Nacreesian (born February 27, 1996) is an American reality television personality, actress, singer, songwriter, dancer, and entrepreneur. She began her career as a child model and back up dancer before gaining recognition for her role as Zoë Dunn on Nickelodeon television series Just Dance and being a former member of girl group The BRATZ. She is the youngest sibling of the Nacreesians and has starred alongside her family in the Netflix reality television series Life of Crees since 2009. After signing a solo deal with Atlantic Records in 2013 while still being apart of the Bratz, Nacreesian released her debut album, Yours Truly, which was influenced by 1990s R&B and 1950s doo-wop, and peaked atop the US Billboard 200. Nacreesian ventured into EDM on her second album, My Everything (2014), which also topped the US charts and featured four top ten singles on the Billboard Hot 100, the most by any artist in 2014: "Problem", "Break Free", "Bang Bang", and "Love Me Harder". Her third album, Dangerous Woman (2016), explored pop and dance and became her first number-one album in the United Kingdom. She announced in 2017 she would be taking a break from music to focus on personal branding. In 2015, she collaborated with fashion retail brand Urban Outfitters along with her older sister Nalani and launched their joint clothing line ’NSYNX’. In 2016, when she turned eighteen she launched her self-owned lipstick line called Lime Lips, which was later renamed to Lime Crime Cosmetics. The following years, between 2017 she launched multiple fashion ventures including streetwear brand GCDS which she co-owns with her cousin King and her solo high-end fashion brand DCNITA. From 2013 to 2016, Time magazine listed her on the list of most influential teens in the world, citing her influence amongst the young black culture through social media. As of 2019, with over 152 million followers, she is the second most followed person on Instagram. In 2017, Nacreesian was placed on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list, making her along with Kylie Jenner (both were 19 at the time) the youngest person to be featured on the list. In 2019, Nacreesian became the youngest self-made billionaire ever after Forbes reported that her net worth was $1.1 billion. Her net worth is mainly attributed to her full ownership of Lime Crime Cosmetics. In December 2018, Vogue placed her along with her cousin King and sister Nalani the most influential celebrities in the fashion industry. Early Life Nakari was born in Jamaica, Queens, New York City. She is the youngest daughter of Grammy-nominated rapper Method Man and singer Naomi Braxton. She has one older brother, Namari and four older sisters Niari, Nakaia, Nalaysia, and Nalani. During the early years of her life, her father was addicted to cocaine and had a violent temper. Throughout the seasons of Life of Crees, she opens up about her father mentally and physically abusing her mother up until Naomi had left him and filed for divorce in 2005 when Nacreesian was 7. Nacreesian attended Garden School from Pre-Kindergarten to 2nd grade and through her duration of attendance she was on the dance team, performed in plays and was a member of the choir. When the family moved to California in 2005 she continued school at Viewpoint School in Calabasas, California from 3rd to 12th grade. There she participated in the BSU club, Relay For Life, Dance, Theater, Choir and Art. Her siblings Nalaysia, Namari and Nalani along with her cousins King and Kyree were also in attendance and staff at the school recall the family as 'very lively and brilliant.' In 2015 she graduated at 17 in the top 20% of her class. Career 2009-2013: ''Life of Crees'' In 2009, Nacreesian, along with her family began appearing on the reality television series Life of Crees which chronicles the personal and professional lives of the high profile family members. At the time, the show was on the Oprah Winfrey Network. The show’s first two seasons proved successful for the network and were giving higher ratings than the Oprah show. For undisclosed reasons, however, the show's duration wasn’t being pushed past a half-hour and the seasons didn’t go past 12 episodes. In 2013, the show was renewed through Netflix and proved a success for the streaming service. The show has resulted in multiple spin-offs including House of Crees, Niari and Nicki: Miami Bound, ''and ''Nalaysia & Chris. Nacreesian appeared throughout all seasons and spin-offs of the show. In March 2011, Nacreesian appeared on an episode of Figure it Out alongside her sister Nicki Minaj. They participated as contestants and won 1st place. Nacreesian and Nalani interviewed the cast of Ice Age Continental Drift in June 2011. Nacreesian alongside her sister Nalani and cousins King and Kyree hosted the 2012 Nickelodeon Teen Choice Awards in July 2012. Later that month she appeared as a contestant on Brain Surge. Nacreesian made her acting debut on the third season of Shake It Up in 2013. May 2013, Nacreesian alongside Nalani, King and Kyree were the cover issue of Essence magazine and credited as the source of influence for young black teens. That same year, she appeared with King on an episode of Project Runway. They were also the ambassadors for the 2013 Winter collection for VERSES, this being Nacreesian’s first fashion campaign. 2014-2015: ''Early Endorsements and Collabs'' In February 2014, Nacreesian collaborated with NYX cosmetics alongside her sister Nalani. She released three liquid lipsticks named sweet tooth, dooM, and CYBERPOP. The collab was launched at the 2014 Beautycon. In May 2014, she modeled in a Nike campaign for Nike Zoom KD VI. The following year she appeared again with NBA basketball player Trey Burke, and WTA player Taylor Townsend for Nike KD 7. In 2015, Nacreesian and King were set for a Moschino campaign for the SS15 collection. After the controversy that the young reality stars were being whitewashed their campaign was pulled. In Spring 2015, Nacreesian collaborated with fashion retail brand Urban Outfitters along with her older sister Nalani and launched their joint clothing line ’NSYNX’. Later that year in October, she and Nalani launched a shoe, handbag and sunglass capsule collection for Jimmy Choo. Between 2014 and 2015 Nacreesian covered multiple magazines including teenVogue, Paper, and DAZED. During 2014 she made appearances in Nicki Minaj’s Only music video and ILOVEMAKONENN’s Tuesday music video. In 2015 she also made appearances in Madonna’s visual for Bitch I’m Madonna as well as Future and Drake’s Where Ya at. She also appeared in the 2015 Beats Pill campaign. 2016-present: ''Lime Crime, Fashion and Film Debut'' In January 2016 Nacreesian made multiple appearances in Paris for Paris Fashion Week and media outlets noted a change in her breast area which sparked breast augmentation rumors. Later that year Nacreesian herself confirmed the rumors by showing her surgery process through various episodes of the eighth season of Life of Crees. In February 2016, Nacreesian celebrated her 18th birthday with the launch of her self-owned makeup line Lime Crime. She supported the launch with an event at Beauty Con where she revealed the lipstick line and made a speech about animal testing in the cosmetic industry, informing everyone that Lime Lips was vegan and animal cruelty-free. Lime Crime sold out only half an hour after the launch went live and Nacreesian received mixed reviews about the lipsticks. In that same month, Nacreesian appeared in the YEEZY SZN 3 and was set to reappear later in the year for YEEZY SZN 4 but dropped out for undisclosed reasons. In May 2016 Beats by Dre officially named Nacreesian as a brand ambassador for the brand. In late 2016, Nacreesian and Nalani released a new collection for their NSYNX line which featured colorful camouflage pant and crop top sets. They’d sent their pieces to various influencers and celebrities including Kylie Jenner. Issues raised when similar clothing pieces were launched for sale on Kylie’s online store in early 2017 which resulted in the NSYNX official social media account to blast Jenner. The clothing was later removed from the site and when Nakari was asked about the incident she told Bazaar: "It's more than a camouflage set. Too many times do bigger celebs emulate smaller brands and get away with it. Fuck being politically correct and civil. It's no issue with herJenner just don't steal our designs." Later that June, Nacreesian was placed at #43 on the Forbes Celebrity 100 after earning approximately US $81,000,000 within the past 12 months, making her along with Kylie Jenner (both were 19 at the time) the youngest person on the list. Nacreesian made her first solo fashion debut in February 2017, with DCNITA (a play on her middle name) during NYFW. In May 2017, King and Nacreesian announced they would be launching a high fashion streetwear brand called GCDS. They teased the brand through social media and through hidden message advertising around New York City through billboards, bus and train stop posters, and time square ads. In September they launched GCDS SS18 during NYFW. Promotional pictures were then launched on the brand’s social media and the clothing went live the next day. Within three days of launching the brand had sold out. GCDS received mostly praise, but some fashion critics found the mix of streetwear and high fashion odd. Fashion critic Robert Garsheir found the brand to be ‘tacky’ and ‘reductive’. In October 2017, Nacreesian covered the October issue of Vogue Japan, the cover being revealed at Amazon Fashion Week TOKYO. That same month she appeared in the Palm Angels look book in a series of promotional photos with rapper Playboi Carti. In February 2018, Nacreesian appeared in a commercial for music streaming service TIDAL. The commercial premiered during Superbowl LI. Towards the end of 2017, FILA had announced Nacreesian as the face of the brand. In Spring 2018, she appeared in multi-media campaign shoots and commercials for the brand alongside rapper Lil Uzi Vert. A study showed a rapid increase in sales and consumer interest in the refurbished brand after Nacreesian began promoting and ESPN mag credited her as a source for the new 'Fila Frenzy'. Between January and March 2018, Nacreesian filmed for the Hype Williams directed film Maneater. Set to be released in February 2019, her main role as the character Malign will be her film debut. In 2017, Nacreesian rebranded Lime Crime. Launching new lines of lip products, highlighters, hair dyes and eyeshadow palettes; the new variety of beauty products within the brand gave it a drastic increase in sales. By 2018, Lime Crime had sold over $400 million US worth of makeup products. The new marketing plan for the company was to manipulate the trend of social media “challenges”. When Lime Crime launched the "M$lf 2 Velvetines lipstick set” for Valentine's day, Nacreesian encouraged her supporters to recreate the promo shoot looks giving the 15 best looks a full PR package with $1500 worth of Lime Crime products. This was called the #LimeCrimeChallenge. Following this marketing plan for every release, Lime Crime broke a record when their Venus XL eyeshadow palette went live selling out all 30,000 units in the first 10 minutes of being available. In Spring 2018 Lime Crime was available in all Sephora stores along with select locations in Ulta, Revolve, Glowhaus, Urban Outfitters, ASOS, Cult Beauty, Riley Rose, and Harvey Nichols all over the globe. At the end of 2018 it was reported that Lime Crime sold over $420 million US worth of makeup making the brand worth about $850 million US. Nacreesian covered the November issue of Vogue Italia channeling Audrey Hepburn in the 1953 film Roman Holiday. She also covered the November issue of Fader, this being her first interview since her court-ordered rehabilitation in which she was released from in October. She opened up about overcoming her alcoholism, her relationship with 21 Savage and her women’s and children activism plans. In December she covered W magazine with a full Catholic conceptual theme. Shot by David Lachapelle, Nakari posed on the cover as Jesus and recreated many biblical paintings. In January 2019, a month short of her 21st birthday Nacreesian covered Forbes magazine and was credited for becoming the youngest self-made billionaire in history. A large amount of her net worth is attributed to her self owned cosmetic company, endorsement deals, social media sponsors and fashion ventures. Five years younger 25-year-old Evan Speigel who held the title, Nacreesian beat out Kylie (who ironically sold more in makeup with Kylie Cosmetics than Lime Crime) who was on track to take this title a little later in the year. Personal Life Relationships Since 4th grade, Nacreesian has maintained a close and heavily publicized friendship with fashion editor and designer Kayla Kristina Hill, daughter of Tamia and Grant Hill. The pair met in 2005 when Nacreesian moved to California and they began attending the same school. Kayla is regarded as her best friend. From 2012-2015, the two appeared in and produced a 20 episode Youtube vlog series 'Kayla and Nacreesian take Viewpoint' which chronicles what high school was like for celebrity teens. Sometime in 2011, Nacreesian also becomes close friends with socialite Antoine Benét, the son of Halle Berry and Eric Benét. Nacreesian was his date to their junior prom. At the time Antoine's sexuality wasn't confirmed so this sparked dating rumors, which both later denied. Apart from managing his own career, Antoine works as Nacreesian's assistant. Between 2014 and 2015, after working with him for a Nike campaign, Nacreesian became friends with Utah Jazz basketball player Trey Burke. The two were spotted out together on multiple occasions which fueled rumors of them dating. In March, Nacreesian appeared on the Ellen Degeneres show and insisted that they were just friends. Rumors of their relationship sparked again when Trey took Nacreesian to her senior prom. Later that year, Nacreesian told Paper magazine they were good friends and nothing more. In August 2017, a song on Lil Uzi Vert’s debut album Luv Is Rage titled ‘The Way Life Goes’ was rumored to be written about Nacreesian since the two became friends after working as brand ambassadors for FILA and he had made a picture of her as his Twitter header he raps about in the song. Nacreesian denied they were dating and insisted they were just friends, joking that Vert was ‘obsessed’ with her. In December 2017, Nacreesian appeared in the music video for Lil Uzi Vert’s XO Tour Llif3 as Vert’s love interest. Nacreesian is currently in a relationship with Atlanta-based rapper 21 Savage. In April 2018, Nacreesian was spotted with him at multiple events including Quavo's birthday celebration and Coachella weekend which sparked dating rumors only a few weeks after Amber Rose confirmed that she was no longer in a relationship with the rapper. For the next few months, they continued dating. In an interview with Big Boi, Amber Rose expressed her disapproval of their relationship and accused Nacreesian of having relations with 21 while he was still with her. She said that it came to a shock to her since she was close with the Nacreesian family due to her friendship with Nicki Minaj. Nacreesian later denied ever having relations with 21 while he was with Amber stating: "We became a 'thing' in January. They were done. Not publicly done, but they were done. I think she believes otherwise because of a picture we'd taken last year while he was on tour with my sister but she's unfortunately mistaken; Which is sad because she's running to every blog and radio show to run this smear campaign about a 20-year old that did nothing to her." ''In September 2018 they attended NYFW together, this being Nacreesian's first public appearance since her release from rehab. 'Legal Issues/Lawsuits' In April 2016, L'Oréal, the parent company of NYX cosmetics filed a $20 million lawsuit against Nacreesian for using a trade secret in the formula the company had given her for the Lime Crime products. In November 2016, the case was dismissed after a lack of evidence Nacreesian had improperly acquired the information. In October 2016, Nacreesian filed a defamation lawsuit against Birchbox owner Katia Beauchamp for libel of the brand. Beauchamp counter-sued Nacreesian for breaching her contract with the company. The case was later settled out of court, with Birchbox paying Nacreesian an undisclosed amount of money. In August 2017, Nacreesian was arrested and charged with possession of alcohol after a VMA after party. She was fined $250 and ordered to 30 hours of community service. In September 2017, Nacreesian was arrested again for underage consumption while driving, with a blood alcohol content of 0.0.6% and possession of alcohol. Nacreesian was fined $500 and ordered to 48 hours of community service. In November 2017, Nacreesian's driver's license and privileges were suspended for a year. In January 2018, she pleaded no contest to an open container charge. Her sentence was 6 months probation and a $1500 fine. In March 2018, she was stopped for driving with a suspended license and signed an agreement that she was not permitted to drive. The following summer in May, she was arrested for reckless driving after being caught driving 90 mph in a 24-mph zone. She had a blood intoxication level of 0.09%. Nacreesian was charged with public intoxication, driving without headlights at night with a suspended license, and a second offense of underage consumption while driving. Prosecutors in the office of the Los Angeles City Attorney charged that these infractions along with a documented nightclub fight that was still being investigated violated her probation. On May 23, Nacreesian was sentenced by Judge Booker T. Washinton to 90 days in a rehabilitation center for alcohol after Nacreesian's lawyer plead reason of insanity and supported their plea with an evaluation that proved Nacreesian showed signs of alcohol abuse. Nacreesian entered Ambrosia Treatment Center on May 25th and was released after spending the full 90 days on August 23rd. While she was away, the nightclub fight was further investigated and is currently an ongoing case against Nacreesian, who maintains her innocence. 'Activism' Nacreesian is an active advocate for the LGBTQ community, attending and hosting Pride events annually, and donating $1 million to amFaR. In 2015, Nacreesian made headlines after taking a Syracuse female fan who identified as a lesbian to prom after the female was denied a date because of her sexual orientation. Nacreesian has also donated to RAINN for victims of rape and abuse as well as Planned Parenthood. In 2018, she agreed to talk at Claflin University in April 2019 for RAINN day. Nacreesian has also been a vocal advocate for the #meToo movement, Black Lives Matter and Mental Health awareness. Nacreesian alongside her sisters has been recognized for visiting shelters across America, participating in the Make-A-Wish foundation, and doing the annual Nacreesian Turkey Drive in their hometown Queens, New York. Nacreesian also participated in a campaign for the No More movement. In 2019, Nacreesian spoke of her interest in speaking out against violence against women and donating to the BWJP organization as well as the global issue of child marriages in third-world countries. In 2017, in honor of Breast Cancer awareness month, Nacreesian sold every product on the Lime Crime website for 50% off and donated the proceeds to breast cancer research. 'Possessions' '''Controversies' Apart from shared controversies with her family, Nakari has been in many controversies regarding her public image, personal brands, and appearances. E! named her the 'Princess of Controversy' and compared her to a young Paris Hilton of the 2000's. Lime Crime Upon its initial 2016 launch, Lime Crime had a partnership deal with monthly subscription service Birchbox. Lime Crime agreed to send the company 300 lipsticks monthly for them to distribute into mystery boxes for their subscribers. In May, Birchbox customers noticed that Lime Crime was no longer listed on the websites product list. The company put out a statement calling Nacreesian a "fraud" and calling out the makeup company for billing itself as vegan when they were selling products that contained beeswax and carmine. This came as a surprise and caused an uproar in the Beauty as well as the Vegan community. Nacreesian responded stating that the Velvetines did contain those ingredients to which she had no knowledge of and when she found out she removed them immediately; even halting orders until the new batch of products came in. She stated that this discrepancy took place in March and Birchbox still continued the partnership. She went on to say that they didn't have an issue or care about the non-Vegan ingredients up until they had a dispute with Nacreesian in April due to Birchbox charging customers extra for a mystery box with a guaranteed Lime Crime product. Nacreesian stated that she did not contractually agree to this and that Birchbox was not paying Lime Crime the fair profit of the extra money they were making off of their products. In Summer 2016, Lime Crime went through a security breach after the website was hacked by cyber-thieves and thousands of customer’s information was stolen. Critics accused Nakari of negligence and having an out of date SSL Certificate but she immediately clarified that it was the work of hackers and wasn’t because of failure on Lime Crime’s part. After issuing a public apology and refunding all the lost claims money from the customers, Nakari set up a transparent and thorough FAQ, a call center, a dedicated email account for dealing with all incident-related inquiries, and hired extra Customer Care help to reply to customers on Social Media. In addition, she brought in a team of online security experts and partnered with Trustwave and Norton to make the Lime Crime website extra-secure to shop. Later that Fall, Lime Crime received a warning letter from the FDA in reference to the cosmetic pigments Ultramarines and Ferric Ferrocyanide printed on the Velvetines box. The letter was a request for clarification as to whether those ingredients are in the product, as the FDA claimed to have not tested the products for the presence of these ingredients in the formula. The letter was later released to the public through the FDA’s official Twitter account. Nacreesian took to Instagram to clarify those ingredients are not in Lime Crime’s Velvetines products. She claimed Lime Crime has been in active communication with the FDA regarding the letter and following their instructions to resolve it as quickly as possible so them bringing the claims to the public were unnecessary and for press attention. As per the FDA, Lime Crime has provided documentation demonstrating that these ingredients are not part of the Velvetines formula and that there was a simple labeling error. Nacreesian wrote “We are confident that once the FDA reviews the proof, they will consider the case resolved. Ultramarines and Ferric Ferrocyanide are commonly used ingredients that appear in a variety of cosmetic and personal care products, including eyeshadow, mascara, face & skin products, and soaps. They are approved for lipstick use in Europe, but not in the U.S." W Magazine In December 2018, Nacreesian covered the January/December Issue of W Magazine. Shot by David Lachapelle, the conceptual theme of the photoshoot was the Catholic religion which involved Nakari recreating multiple biblical painting including Christ Crucified, Creation of Adam, Good Shepard, Madonna and Child with Angels, The Immaculate Heart of Mary, The Guardian Angel, and The Last Supper. ''The cover image showed Nacreesian topless on the cross being 'crucified' by reporters, bloggers, and paparazzi. The cover and spread images attracted controversy and were deemed blasphemous by the Catholic League. The president of the league, Bill Donohue called Nacreesian's cover "tasteless and disrespectful to the religious community." he also criticized Nacreesian and her family for "appropriating the Catholic religion for media attention and press for years." Following the controversy, Lachapelle released a statement taking creative directive credit for the concept of the spread and further explained the metaphorical reasons behind recreating biblical events for W. Nakari followed this statement by reposting it to her Instagram account and apologizing for offending anyone in the Catholic community. Apart from the controversy, the issue quickly became the magazine's second best-selling issue in just a month with over 18,500 copies sold. 'Moschino Barbie Controversy' In August 2014, Nacreesian and her cousin King were announced as faces of the Moschino SS15 a campaign. Upon the initial release of the campaign, many took notice to the Nacreesian's features being dramatically changed to appear more white and "less ethnic" including whitened skinned, bleached hair and photoshop to make them appear more slender. It was revealed by Nacreesian that the makeup artists did purposely use makeup to make her appear the same color of the traditional Barbie doll which the collection had drawn inspiration from. They were heavily criticized by black media for not disagreeing with the creative direction of the photos. They were accused of trying to stray away from their blackness to be successful in the fashion industry and ridiculed for supporting Barbie; the company having a long history of being reclusive to African-Americans with their products. “For two people who are credited as pop culture influences for black teenagers, pushing an agenda that you have to white wash yourselves to fit in with the world of fashion is very misleading to their followers.” Tanya Reed of the NAACP spoke. "This is just a part of editorial's shameful traditions in removing the ethnic in celebrities of color to appeal to the mass audience. As two of the youngest influencers of our black children, these pictures should have never happened." Yvette Turnstead of Essence said. The campaign was completely pulled and removed from Moschino's website, followed with Nacreesian apologizing on the National News. On Life of Crees, Nacreesian ridiculed Moschino creative director Jeremy Scott for hiding behind the incident and allowing the teens to take the fall for it when he was the creative director behind the photoshoot. Filmography 'Film and Television' 'Music Videos/Visual Albums''' Awards and Nominations Category:Family